While trimming budgets and cutting jobs, the University of St. Thomas was also quietly writing some very generous goodbye checks. The private Catholic university in Houston paid out nearly $1 million in exit deals to departing executives and faculty at the same time it was wrestling with multi-year budget shortfalls and a round of layoffs. The payments, several of them in the six-figure range, have angered faculty and alumni who say that kind of money could have gone to scholarships or shoring up academic programs. The arrangements, revealed through federal filings and public tax returns, have shoved questions about governance and transparency to the center of campus debate.
Records show the university paid more than $941,000 to at least eight former employees from July 2017 through June 2024, even as administrators moved to cut roughly 30 faculty positions to save about $5 million a year, according to reporting that identified the agreements in federal filings. The Chronicle of Higher Education and others have documented the personnel upheaval and fallout in academic departments. As reported by the Houston Chronicle, the university did not answer detailed questions about who approved the payouts or why they were structured the way they were.
Public tax filings and summary databases paint a mixed financial picture. ProPublica and the university’s Form 990s show revenues in the 130 to 136 million dollar range in the most recent filings and liabilities in the tens of millions, while earlier years reflected operating shortfalls that put pressure on reserves. Against that backdrop, donors and faculty members say it is not hard to see why sizeable exit payments have set off alarms while the institution works to stabilize its budget.
Who Got Paid And Why It Matters
The exit deals went to a mix of vice presidents, administrators and at least one professor, with several six-figure packages in the group. The Houston Chronicle identified payments that included about 172,000 dollars tied to the former business dean, who resigned amid questions about his credentials, and an almost 229,000 dollar package to longtime associate accounting professor John Simms. Another former administrator who sued the school over alleged retaliation received roughly 123,800 dollars. Critics on campus say those arrangements set a costly precedent and raise hard questions about stewardship and how the board is exercising oversight. As detailed by the Houston Chronicle, faculty leaders and governance experts have warned that the payments risk looking like rewards for insiders while ordinary academic units absorb cuts.
Oversight And Governance Concerns
Governance groups note that boards carry ultimate responsibility for an institution’s fiscal health and for basic transparency, and they urge careful deliberation before approving large exit packages. The Association of Governing Boards’ guidance on board accountability emphasizes that trustees are charged with safeguarding financial integrity and aligning significant personnel decisions with the institution’s mission and long-term interests. Those standards are now being cited by faculty and alumni who want clearer explanations of how and why the university signed off on the deals.
For now, the university says it remains committed to responsible stewardship but declines to comment on individual personnel matters, and campus leaders are likely to face continued scrutiny as stakeholders ask whether the severance decisions were justified. Observers say the next things to watch include any disclosures by the board, upcoming governance meetings, and whether donors or accrediting bodies start pressing more publicly for additional transparency.
